5 Habits That Will Transform Any Introvert Into a Social Butterfly

Here’s a little secret that you would not guess if you met me in public; I’m naturally introverted. I was very shy as a kid, I’m still perfectly content to go to dinner or a movie by myself, and I enjoy working alone. That being said, I’m also one of the best networkers you’re ever going to run into. I’ve been hired by a presidential campaign and consulting confirms because of my blogger contacts. I do speeches at Tea Parties, I write articles on how to communicate with people, and my Facebook page is nothing but pictures of me hanging out with cool people and political celebrities. Here’s something a blogger wrote about me just two weeks ago.

* John Hawkins will walk up to any woman or group of women — including the stunning Dana Loesch and Katie Pavlich — and begin chatting them up for photos. I have a vision of Hawkins’ foyer that is lined with hundreds of photos of him hugging every woman on the center-right scene….

* John Hawkins knows everyone. He is an uber-networker and can connect you with the full spectrum of conservative thought, from National Review to Breitbart.com.

* John Hawkins is funny. At #BlogConCLT, he had me literally crying and gasping for breath as he outlined various possible “list columns” like “The Top 12 Places You Should Never Wear a Speedo With an Afro-Wig Under It.”

I’m not rich, famous, or good looking — yet. So, how did I get so much better with people that my Myers-Briggs score actually switched from INTJ (introversion, intuition, thinking, judgment) when I was younger to ENTJ (extraversion, intuition, thinking, judgment) now?

1) Approach: If you’re determined to meet a new person, the easiest way to do it is to be the one who walks up and says, “hello.” This is actually not as tough as it may seem. People get wrapped up in what they should say, but the truth is that it doesn’t matter all that much. Personally, my favorite is, “I’m John Hawkins and I don’t think I’ve met you yet,” but I’m confident that I could walk up to someone and say, “Meow” or “I bet the weather is great on Mars today” and still have things turn out well. That’s because people watch your body language and pay attention to your tone more than what you say. If you seem completely comfortable, confident, and friendly, they’ll just assume they must have misheard you and keep chatting. Just be content to meet people, enjoy yourself, and move on if you get bored. 99 times out of a 100, I get a good reaction doing that and the 1 time out of 100 that I don’t, I assume there’s something wrong with them, not me.